


Kisses and Hisses

by ValentinesForever1



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Cute little fluff story, M/M, this was a request
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 18:57:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6341320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValentinesForever1/pseuds/ValentinesForever1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finny is a hopeless romantic who wanted to visit the zoo on his day off, but it seems that an innocent day out would lead to meeting the shy and interesting Snake Kelvin, the main man in the Reptile Room.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kisses and Hisses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CheekyDoodles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheekyDoodles/gifts).



> For calamity-annie, only a week late from your birthday.^^ C: I hope this is what you wanted.^^

It had been three years since he’d worked as the head of the reptilian unit at the zoo, and Snake couldn’t figure out why he was still working there. The pay was terrible, the visitors were rude and obnoxious, and he had to wear a tight, uncomfortable uniform that was probably made out of wool. It scratched against the delicate parts of his skin and made him sweat all day.

A kid ran past, spilling lemonade all over the floor but never missing a beat. He slid into a place besides his mother or whatever family unit kids come with these days. He shrieked something about frogs and their weird faces, and the sound was enough to start a headache. However he ignored it and refocused his attention to the task he was currently in charge of.

“Emily, please cooperate,” he murmured, extending a finger to her and trying to coax her out of the vending machine. She’d wiggled out of her cage, much to the shock of the idiots in the zoo who thought she would bite them. When one man chased her in some stupid attempt at being heroic, she’d scurried into the flap of the machine, cuddling beside a bag of chips and absolutely refusing to get out. So, they’d called Snake, asking him to use his abilities to encourage her back into the pen.

Ever since he was a child, he’d known that there was something strange about himself. He hadn’t even really blamed people for steering as far clear of him as possible. He couldn’t blame his parents for dropping him off at an orphanage when he was only a few days old. He never blamed potential employers for turning him down when they saw him face to face. After all, in odd parts of his body, he had strange patches of skin that almost resembled scales, shiny and obvious on his face and neck and soon, impossible to cover up or remove. 

Oh, and understanding snakes. That tended to freak people out.

_He’d found that out in a rather Harry Potter-ish way. He’d gone to the zoo in grade school, mindlessly wandering through the exhibits until he stumbled up his first snake. She was a beautiful corn snake that was resting against the glass, practically rolling her eyes as the third-graders pressed their obnoxious faces close to look at her every movement._

_They soon grew bored of her, but Snake stayed, standing about two feet from the box she was in and looking in awe. While he’d always heard that he looked like a snake, he’d never actually looked up what a snake looked like. He was amazed by her scaly appearance and almost aloof demeanour, like she was too good to be locked in a cage._

_Snake finally gained the courage to approach, only putting a finger on the glass that her head was against. She blinked at him once before raising herself up against the glass and staring at him with a wonder the same as his own. After all, he doubted that she’d ever seen someone with scales that walked on two legs. She extended her little tongue, like she was tasting for him._

_“My name is Snake,” he said shyly, introducing himself with the name that they called him at school and at the orphanage, not the one his mother had given him before ditching him. “Do you have a name?”_

_Of course, it was just to be polite. He figured there was no way she could understand him, let alone reply to his question. Still, she’d been sweet enough to pay attention to him, so Snake figured that perhaps there was something to this._

_However, when he heard a very soft, hissing voice reply, “Dana,” Snake just about jumped out of his skin. She shifted her head, looking a bit like a confused puppy, but he was too busy trying to calm his racing heart. “Snake, is something wrong?”_

She _did_ talk! _He approached her again and touched the glass, eyes wide in shock. “Can you understand me?” he asked quietly, not wanting his classmates to overhear them._

_Dana seemed offended. “Yes. I understand humans perfectly. It’s you guys that usually don’t understand me.” She opened her mouth widely, saying in a shout, “But you do! How cool! And you even have scales like us.” He nodded, turning his head to let her see them better. “But what does that mean?” she mused, narrowing her eyes._

_“I don’t know,” he murmured, heart still beating wildly. “I have no idea.”_

Almost twenty years later, he still had no idea, but his abilities had earned him his job. His interview had been short, just a test to see how well he could do with the eight snakes that the zoo had collected and housed. However, it had taken a sudden turn when Oscar decided that he didn’t like the people holding him and had tried to escape. When Snake had been able to talk him down and convince him to slither back into his box, the owner of the zoo had hired him on the spot.

Oscar was currently trying to help him encourage Emily out of the machine, even shouting, “You know it’s going to get cold in there, idiot!”

“I don’t care!” she snapped back, and Snake heard her brush against the bag in her hiding spot. “I just wanted to explore, and that asshole had to chase me! I hate this place! I want to go back to the wild!”

“You were born in captivity,” Snake reminded her gently. “You wouldn’t last three hours.” She hissed threateningly at him, and he rolled his eyes. “What do you _really_ want?”

She was quiet for a moment, either ignoring him or thinking over her options. After all, Emily was a crowd favourite; she could probably earn something nice. He didn’t mind what she asked for, as long as she got back into her pen after her gave it to her.

Finally, she hissed, “An apology from that jerkbag.” 

_How mature_ , he noted with a small smile. “Okay, well, if you just wait here, I’ll have him come down from the manager’s office. I’m sure he’s still there, threatening to sue.”

“Whatever, just get him down here.”

____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o

His eyes were burning from the bright sunlight outside, but he still sighed sadly when he stepped inside the reptilian room. After so many years of being forced to stay inside by his foster parents, he detested every moment he had to spend inside, trapped in walls again and denied the fresh air that the outdoors offered.

But he also really wanted to see the turtles and snakes, so he’d put up with it being inside if he got to see everything. After all, what was the point of coming to the zoo if he skipped over the exhibits? The animals couldn’t help that they did better in other climates, and he wouldn’t discriminate.

Finny stopped in front of the poison dart frog case, looking in at their bright colours and smiling as he spotted all five of them. He giggled at one holding on for dear life onto the glass at the back of the display, breathing so slowly that it almost went unnoticed. Another one shifted so that it moved up the branches shoved into the small square.

He shifted over to the next display, frowning at the unnatural chill that raised gooseflesh on his skin. It reminded him of how his foster parents would keep the house at a constant temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit, how he would have to hide under layers and layers of blankets and clothes just so he could stay warm. He’d ask them to turn it up, but they’d always say that it was too hot, that it was easier to put on a jacket to beat the cold than strip to escape the heat. 

_Cold house, cold soup, cold floor to sleep on, cold-hearted people_

He squashed the memories down, forcing a smile and focusing on the tiny tortoise that was climbing over to his food bowl. The image of those little legs moving so slowly made Finny laugh, and it became easier to block out all those memories. After he watched it move all the way over to its bowl, he shifted to the left, straight into a vending machine.

He looked over it and grinned in excitement when he saw everything that they offered, and the prices were fair! Turquoise eyes scanned over the selection, stopping when he saw a bag of Skittles. Looking at the small white price tag beneath them, he pulled out the appropriate money from his wallet, sliding it into the slot. However, apparently it was one of those machines that was pernickety about the quality of money put in it, so it spat his rumpled one right back out with a quiet hiss.

“Shoot,” Finny whispered, taking it back before smoothing it over on one of the corners of the machine. After he determined that it was flat enough to be worthy of the vending machine, he inserted it once more, smiling as it was accepted and the little green numbers on the screen read _Credit: $1.00_. He punched in the number on the tag for the Skittles and watched attentively as the little screw swivelled until the box fell down into the slot.

However, when the Skittles dropped, he heard the quiet hiss from earlier intensify. Any other day, he would have stopped to analyse what the noise meant, but Finny was hungry, which meant that thinking was out the window if it wasn’t about food. 

When he reached into the slot for his candy, something else slid into his fingers, and he watched in terror as a snake twisted around his wrist and arm before raising itself up to hiss at him menacingly. The poor, startled blonde fell back in shock on his butt, mouth wide open in horror as his heart started racing like there was a trophy to win. The snake practically glared at him, opening its mouth again to hiss its displeasure at being disturbed.

“Emily!” The snake and Finny both turned at the shout, like a parent yelling at their misbehaving child. It was odd, but not as odd as the man that had said it.

He had white hair, cut in messy layers and allowed to stick up in a few places. The white hair was almost matched by the man’s pale skin, his face and exposed hands coloured with just slightest amount of pink to convince those around him that he was actually alive and not some living corpse standing in a skin-tight zoo uniform that left little to the imagination. However, the skin that poked out of said uniform was raised in strange, shiny patches, and Finny realised that this jade-eyed man was covered in patches of snake skin.

However, even with all the looks the other patrons were giving this man, the blonde found he couldn’t find an ounce of disgust.

What he could find was the rekindling of fear as he remembered that a snake was still wrapped around his arm. The white-haired man had said that its name was Emily, so did that mean it was a she? Finny looked back at her and swallowed a moment, feeling her tighten around him almost instinctively at the sight of the other man.

“Please,” Finny begged him, the action causing him to panic. His mind was suddenly seized with images of the snake squeezing him to death and swallowing him whole. To make it worse, it seemed that she had just remembered he was there as well and turned to hiss at him, causing Finny to whine in fear.

The snake hissed again, and the man hummed. “‘I was just trying to tease you,’ Emily says,” he said, and he even pitched his voice to sound feminine when he said the first part, as if he were translating. “She likes playing tricks on people, but she won’t hurt you.” Finny watched in awe as Emily let him go and slithered over to the other man. As he bent down to pick her up, he murmured, “You know you’re not allowed to wrap around the patrons unless you’re being displayed.”

She curled around his upper arm and shoulder, resting her round head on his shoulder and letting out a content little hiss. Once she was there, her friend walked over to Finny, still on the floor, offering him a hand as well. Finny accepted it, using it as support to raise himself off the ground. Once they were both upright, he offered man and snake a smile.

“Thank you. I’m Finny,” he offered, shaking their still connected hands a bit before letting go. He glanced back at the vending machine then back at Emily. “I’m sorry for dropping Skittles on you. I hadn’t realised that you were in there.”

“‘That’s okay,’ says Emily.” Finny smiled, feeling glad that she wasn’t mad at him. “‘I had tried to tell you I was in there, but I doubt you understood me like Snake does.’”

“Snake?” Finny asked, cocking his head to the side. However, after just a heartbeat, he got it. “Ohhh,” he breathed. “Sorry, _you_ must be Snake,” he said to the white-haired man- _Snake_ , he told himself- and got a smile in return. “Well, thank you, Snake. I’m sorry for disturbing you two.”

“It’s okay. Emily was pouting in the vending machine, so I should have put a sign up. Are you okay? She didn’t squeeze you too hard, right?” Jade eyes scanned over Finny’s tanned arm, looking for any sign of injury.

“Nope, I’m fine.” He grinned at Snake, earning a small one in return. The gesture looked sweet on that pale face, and Finny couldn’t help but think that he looked pretty attractive. Sure, a lot of people would be repulsed by the scales that dotted that pale skin, but Finny really couldn’t bring himself to care. He was sweet and cute and right up Finny’s alley in terms of personality. Still, he had to control himself, and a little voice reminded him firmly that he couldn’t go falling for every nice guy he met.

However, that didn’t stop him from asking, “So, do you work here with the snakes?”

Both Emily and Snake nodded, and he answered, “I’ve been here three years. Since I can actually understand them, they listen to me better than any of the other zoo employees, so I’ve got a pretty steady job here.”

“Whoa, that sounds cool!” And it did. To be able to come every day to the zoo- even get _paid_ to come- sounded like a dream job. Finny loved animals, his strongest memory of Germany being a home full of birds and rabbits that he could dote on. “It sounds a lot better than my job,” he admitted with a sheepish laugh.

“‘What’s that?’” Emily asked through Snake, his voice and the hiss that had preceded it clueing the blonde in on who was actually speaking. 

“I’m a translator up at the German embassy. I was born and spent the first six years of my life in Germany, so I’m quite fluent. I moved here when my parents died, and I’m probably boring you,” Finny said with a laugh, embarrassed that he’d started in on his life story. “I’m sorry.”

Snake shrugged. “There’s nothing to apologise for. I never got to meet my parents, so I spent all my life in an orphanage not far from here.” Emily pressed her cheek against his, as if to console him. “I think your job sounds fun, though, getting to meet all those people.”

“Eh, it’s exciting, but it’s a bit stressful, what with the state of the world and all. Still, I’m allowed to have my own office and grow plants in there, so I can’t complain.” Snake nodded, his green eyes shining so beautifully in the small ray of sunshine that streamed in through the windows. He flushed a bit at the sight, unable to keep himself from asking, “So, do you work all day, or do you get a lunch break?”

Both Emily and her caretaker blinked, and Finny watched as those pale cheeks coloured with a slight red tint. However, Emily answered for Snake, “He gets off around one for an hour and a half. Why?”

_Go on, Finny! You started this, and the worst he could do is say no._

_Or, he could spit in your face and call you a faggot like the kids in school did._

He waved the question off. “Just curious. I mean, it’s around lunch time and you’re still on-duty, so I was curious,” Finny said lamely, and he knew that neither of them believed him.

Emily said something, but Snake shook his head, blushing even more as he suddenly refused to meet Finny’s eyes. For a moment, Finny wondered if he had hurt his feelings, but then Snake sighed and looked directly in the blonde’s eyes, his pale face beet red.

“Do you want to have lunch together?” he asked quickly. “I know a nice place to get gyros.”

 _Oh, my god._ Finny felt his cheeks heat up to probably a thousand degrees, but he was already nodding. A strange buoyant feeling filled his chest, and a smile split his cheeks, growing as the seconds went by. By the look on Snake’s face, he had meant that exactly how Finny wanted him to, and that meant that he felt exactly how Finny did as well.

“Okay!” he chirped happily, throwing his arms around Snake for a moment. “I’ll be back around one, then? Or would you like me to just stay here with you?”

Snake blinked at him when the blonde let him go, face somehow turning even darker. “Um, w-well, you can go look around some more if you want to. You should go see some of the other exhibits, and I have a showing in a bit anyways.” He offered Finny a small smile. “But I’ll see you at one.”

 _He’s so cute!_ “See you at one!”

____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o

“Snake and Finny, sitting in a tree,” Emily and Goethe sang from their pens. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Shh,” Snake whispered, face still feeling extremely hot as he waited just inside the door to the reptilian room. “He probably just said yes because he wants to be friends.”

“Oh, honey,” Emily sighed, voice sounding like she was seconds from rolling her eyes. “If he’s not interested in you, then I’m actually a cat.”

She sounded exasperated, but Snake knew that she just didn’t understand. No one had ever hit on Snake in his entire life. _No one_. So, he was a little hesitant to assume that this cute, go-lucky guy was actually interested in a man with scales and could talk to snakes. His own parents didn’t want him; how could Finny?

But he wanted Finny to like him. As soon as Snake had seen him, he’d practically begged God that the blonde wouldn’t run for the hills the moment Emily got off him. So, imagine Snake’s surprise when Finny not only didn’t run but actually stayed long enough to have a _conversation_. 

Now, they were going out to lunch. Like, as friends that would be going to some place to hang out and talk about things. They would tell jokes and talk about really odd things that neither one of them would think they would find in common with someone else. Snake could actually open up to someone besides Joker and Doll, someone who could like him for himself.

_And what if that like turns into something more? What if Finny’s gay and he’s interested in me? What if he wants this to be a date just as much as I do?_ Snake pressed a hand to his chest, trying to calm his racing heart as the idea made him want to cry with joy. _He didn’t seem disgusted by my skin, even when he saw it. He accepted that it was_ Emily _talking, not me being weird like the kids in school thought._

“Hiya, Snake!” He looked up to see Finny standing there, and his efforts to make his heart stop freaking out went up in smokes.

Being out in the sun had made Finny all pink and slightly sweaty, his cheeks flushed with heat and possible exertion. Had he run to make sure he made it on time? He was panting a bit as well, and his grinning mouth was open so he could breathe easier. Finny's windswept strawberry-blonde hair was trying to escape the numerous red bobby pins keeping his bangs back. As he stood there, he fixed his tee shirt so it didn’t cling so much to his chest.

_Yup, I’m screwed_ , the snake-keeper thought with a small swallow. However, he forced a smile on his lips as well to curb the nervousness at standing next to such a cute guy, and he waved a bit. “How are you? Have you been enjoying the zoo?” Snake managed meekly.

Finny nodded emphatically, smile somehow growing wider. Normally, a smile that big would remind someone of a serial killer or something, but it looked sweet on the blonde’s face, natural. “Yeah, but now I’m famished,” the interpreter groaned playfully.

Then, he grabbed Snake’s arm, latching onto it and pulling him towards the doors. Snake glanced back at Emily and Oscar, seeing them rise up to watch him go.

“Have fun!” she called, and he was sure he caught her wink at him before he turned away. 

They went to the small stand near the polar bears, ordering their gyros and deciding to just stroll around the zoo as they ate. Finny, as it turned out, loved to talk, never leaving a moment of silence between them. He made sure to bring up stuff Snake could talk about as well, but, while Snake _did_ contribute to the conversation when he felt he needed to, he mostly just listened to the exuberant blonde.

In all honesty, he had always been a quiet person, barely making a peep unless one of his brothers or sisters talked to him. Or his snakes, of course. To find out that Finny was pretty chatty made him feel a whole lot better; there at least wouldn’t be any awkward silences between them. Snake had never understood the term “comfortable silence,” seeing as almost every stretch of time without any noise set him on edge, and it just made him warm up to Finny all the more that he would never have to worry about silences while the interpreter was around.

They’d dipped a bit into each other’s lives while they were at it. Snake found out that Finny had quite the green thumb, his backyard full of flowerbeds and gardens that he’d spent years nurturing. Snake admitted that he was partial to klezmer music, loving the way that it carried a sort of human-like energy in every piece. They found out they’d both elected to play the flute in their middle school concert band, but the blonde had apparently lost his when he moved to the city.

However, there was still a subject that he could tell Finny wanted to bring up. After all, hardly anyone lasted very long in a deep conversation with Snake without mentioning it once, even if they didn’t directly ask. It hung around them, putting a slight strain on the mood, and even the sweet feeling that had bloomed in his chest was slightly suffocating.

“Is it okay if I just go ahead and bring up the elephant in the room?” Finny finally asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, and Snake nearly sighed with relief. They were nearly done their sandwiches, but neither of them had to be anywhere for another half an hour. Since he was such an honoured employee- snake incidents had been reduced to nearly none and he always prevented injury when they _did_ happen- the zoo had given him an hour and a half lunch. Sure, it meant he could only go on break long enough to use the bathroom, but he wasn’t complaining now.

Well, he hoped not.

“Sure,” the snake-handler assured his friend even if his stomach started twisting into a bunch of knots.

“I’m assuming that when you said you never knew your parents, it meant that they had left you when you were a baby,” the blonde asked quietly, his voice hinting that he was trying to be respectful with his questioning, “and that must mean that you were born with your scales, right?”

Snake couldn’t meet those pretty turquoise eyes, afraid he’d find disgust- or worse, _fear_ \- in them. “Yes. At least, that’s what my foster father told me. He said that they found me on the steps, not even a couple days old, and all they left was my name and a list of family diseases, in case there was a problem when I grew up. I know who they are- my father found out for me in case I ever wanted to meet them- but I’d rather not.”

“Because they left you?” Finny asked, but Snake shook his head, still unable to meet the German’s eyes.

“Because I know they’ll hate me. There’s a reason they left me, and it’s probably because I came out with this _ugly_ skin and _white_ hair.” He instinctively gripped the sandwich in his hand a little tighter, feeling the stinging pricks of tears threatening to fill his eyes. Immediately, he squashed them down, refusing to cry in front of this ray of sunshine. Finny hadn’t asked to make him cry, and the blonde would feel guilty if Snake started getting all worked up over it.

However, a warm hand wrapped around his cold one, and Finny squeezed his fingers soothingly. “Their loss, then, huh?” Snake looked up to see a small smile that grew a bit when their eyes met. “You’re not ugly. In fact, you’re really attractive, and that’s even in your zoo uniform. If they were so superficial that they left you back then over something so stupid, then they don’t deserve you now.” Finny didn’t let go of Snake’s hand, his grin starting to be contagious, and the snake-tamer offered his own tiny smile back. That just made Finny beam even more. “See, you’re not ugly at all.”

_How on earth can you mean that?_ Snake wondered, squeezing the hand still wrapped around his. _Never in my life have I ever been attractive; why should you see me any different?_ He didn’t say it out loud, just continued to walk with his hand in Finny’s. The warm assurance that the German was still with him- still wanted to stay with him- relaxed him ever so slightly, and Snake nodded shyly, refusing to say anything else.

Ever since he was a kid, he was a freak. How on earth could this cute ray of sunlight think that he was attractive? Snake’s skin was pale white and covered with unnatural scales. He had natural white hair, for crying out loud, like some Benjamin Button creature that was starting out old and working his way down. Everyone in school thought he was so weird that he never got those cheesy, stupid Valentines that they put in your little paper bag. Every year, when the other kids were going around laughing at the stupid puns and sucking on lollipops, Snake had to sit at his desk all alone, staring into his empty bag and forcing himself not to cry.

After an entire childhood of thinking he was ugly, it was hard to believe that this sweet man could possibly think he was attractive.

Finny bumped into his shoulder playfully. “In fact, I’m really surprised you don’t have a girlfriend or something. You’re really sweet on top of your good looks. You’d be surprised how many attractive men are just assholes in disguise.”

Snake bit into his sandwich and used that to give him to time to answer. Did Finny think he was straight? If so, he hoped that the blonde’s accepting nature extended to homosexuals. After a few moments, he swallowed and answered, “I’m not really interested in women.”

Finny halted immediately, and Snake turned to face him, waiting for the hatred to stain those turquoise eyes like they had with so many people when he was high school and they asked the same question. As if he wasn’t freakish enough, but then he was a homosexual on top of things? High schoolers could overlook a lot of things, but only if they were independent from each other. Someone could be a lesbian and someone could have an amputated arm, but God forbid she be a lesbian with an amputated arm. It was just too much to overlook, and he figured that even his beautiful Finny would realise this, too.

But Finny’s eyes just grew to the eyes of saucers as his mouth spread open in a wide grin. “You’re gay, too?” he demanded, his voice jumping an octave past his normally high voice. “Like, you’re all about men and couldn’t see yourself having sex with a woman if you were the last two humans on earth, gay?”

In all honesty, Snake couldn’t have held in his laughter if he tried. The question was just so crazy that he had to let go of the German’s warm hand so he could double over with giggles. It wasn’t something he expected from the innocent-looking blonde in front of him, but he would have to realise that apparently Finny would say whatever was on his mind. However, despite his shock, he straightened up and nodded, biting his lower lip to ebb the laughter still bubbling up.

Finny was blushing but still grinning like he’d won some great prize. “Okay, then I’ve got another question for you. I know it’s super early and super awkward, but I must ask.” Snake waited patiently as the blonde sucked in a huge breath of air, and Finny seemed to use it to gain strength because when he exhaled, he puffed out his chest and got a silly grin on his face.

“Go out with me.”

____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o

Finny dropped his bags on the floor when he walked inside his tiny home, too happy to waste a moment. He had to tell Ciel. He had to tell Mey and Bard and Tanaka and everyone he knew. He grabbed the landline from the small table that sat right beside the door and immediately punched in his friend’s number, practically vibrating with his excitement.

Snake had said yes. Like, he’d opened his mouth, and the words “I’d love to” had actually come out of it. Finny had actually managed to ask the attractive snake-tamer out, and they were boyfriends. They could go out to the movies and spend Friday nights wrapped around each other on the couch in a nest of blankets watching bad television and making jokes about stupid commercials. Finny could take someone with him to the annual dinner that they had at the embassy, and Snake would look hot enough to melt steel in a suit.

_We could_ both _wear suits!_ Finny realised with a gasp. _We could colour coordinate! We could wear ties that like match each other’s eyes and little handkerchiefs in the front pockets on our suit jackets, and we could walking in together all cute and badass and just amazing! I am so excited!_

His thoughts were interrupted by someone picking up the phone on the other end. “Ciel Phantomhive speaking,” came the cool answer after the dial tone paused.

“Ciel, guess what!” Finny chirped. The two of them had met in foster care, but Ciel had left much earlier than the blonde had been able to. About three years Finny’s junior, the adorable boy with slate hair and pretty blue eyes had been snatched up as soon as possible. Of course, Ciel had refused to fall out of touch with his foster brother, and so they still talked and met up for lunch and stuff.

He heard a little laugh. “Finnian, did you call me about another cute puppy again? I told you that you can just send me pictures now.”

“No,” Finny pouted, even more put out since the other had used his full name. “It’s even cooler than just seeing a cute puppy.” He gasped. “But don’t think that I’m discrediting how cute puppies are! I only call you about them if they are like heart-stopping adorable, and you know it.”

“Well, I’m sure that your landlord is very happy he said you couldn’t have any pets larger than a goldfish or else you would have dozens of dogs running around your house.” Ciel was smiling; Finny could tell. “So, it must be pretty great if it’s cooler than puppies. What’s the big news?”

“I have a boyfriend!” Finny chirped, unable to keep the joy from practically screaming in his voice. “Like, an actual boyfriend who is in fact male and attractive and an absolute sweetheart and works with animals and is also gay. He is definitely very gay; I made sure.” Finny nodded, remembering giddily the moment when Snake had told him he wasn’t into women. It was like God had decided to drop him the biggest, most blatant sign to just go for it, and go for it he did. 

However, on the other end, all he got from Ciel was a very terse “What’s his name?”

“Well, I don’t know his real name, but he goes by Snake for his first name. His last name is Kelvin though. It’s his foster father’s name since he doesn’t like his biological parents enough to use the name they gave him.” Finny shrugged, but then he heard the sound of key clicking on a keyboard. “Ciel,” he asked disapprovingly, “what are you doing?”

“Looking him up on Google. What does it sound like I’m doing?” The eye roll was practically audible, and Finny’s jaw dropped. “If he breaks your heart, I need a picture and address so Sebastian can break his kneecaps.”

Finny honestly should’ve figured that Ciel’s protective brother side would rear its head. Even though the blonde was the one who typically took over the big brother role in their relationship, Ciel would throw his weight around- all one hundred and some pounds of it really since he was actually pretty petite- if anyone dared to pick on Finny. When they had been in school, the German boy had been pretty naïve and would be taken advantage of if someone thought to try it. However, suddenly they would find themselves at the mercy of the notorious Ciel Phantomhive and his lapdog, Sebastian.

Ciel was just as gay as Finny, even if he wasn’t as flaming as his older brother was. Sebastian Michaelis had walked into their lives when Finny was a sophomore in high school, and he had latched onto Ciel like a moth drawn to a flame. In order to gain the middle schooler’s trust, he had agreed to be his henchman, the muscles to Ciel’s brains. Whenever Ciel needed someone to stop picking on him or Finny, Sebastian was who he called. Eventually, they started dating when Ciel graduated, but it seemed that none of them had truly left the school yard.

“No, Ciel, he’s not like that. He’s a really sweet guy, and we walked around the zoo today for lunch.”

“Where he works,” Ciel commented absently. “He was raised at the Noah’s Ark Orphanage downtown and went to local schools.” More clicking, and Finny sighed. Knowing his brother, Ciel would literally had every single detail dug up about Snake by the end of the night. “No college education. That’s swell, isn’t it? I hope he’s not dating you because he thinks you have money because you are a government employee, Finnian, and that means empty wallets all around. Are you sure about this? I don’t want you broke and trying to take care of some degenerate.”

Finny rolled his eyes, stomping his foot angrily. “He never even brought up money, Ciel! He paid for his own sandwich, and we barely talked about my job other than my plants that I have in my office.” The blonde sunk against the wall, sighing softly as he remembered the tiny smiles Snake would give him. “For what he does- what he loves doing- there’s really not a college education for. I mean, sure, you could go to a class or two to get information, but I feel like he’s more of a hands on person anyways.”

“‘ _Hands on_?’” Ciel repeated, and Finny winced. “Hands on what exactly? Did he try to grope you? Just you wait; I’m going to find a picture of this guy and then go have a firm…”

Ciel trailed off, and Finny frowned at the phone. “Ciel, are you still there?” he asked loudly, wondering if his phone lost connection.

There was another moment of silence before he heard a quiet, “I can see why they call him Snake now.”

For whatever reason, the comment made something ignite in Finny’s chest. He felt his face pull into a glare and he snapped, “So what? It’s not like there’s anything wrong with him. It’s not like that makes him any less attractive!”

“Whoa, Finny, that’s not what I was trying to say,” Ciel said, and the blonde could hear his computer chair squeak. “It’s just not your usual thing.”

“Well, I’m allowed to like whoever I want. He’s had an entire life of being treated badly just because of how he looks, and I could care less about the scales and his hair and all that because that’s not what defines him.” He blew out an irritated sigh. “I mean, he’s really hot, and he doesn’t even mind that I’m a freaking _kidult_ and laughs at my awful jokes. He didn’t even get annoyed with me!” He gripped the phone a bit tighter and squeezed his eyes shut. “I don’t feel like I have to change myself around him, and you know that I’m a hard person to have prolonged exposure to.”

Ciel laughed. “You do talk a lot, yeah.” Finny flushed, but he couldn’t argue with that. “Listen, I’m sorry, okay? You know how vain I can be sometimes, but it’s not like I would ever tell you how to live your life. Unless you were doing drugs, and then we would have to talk. You’re too young to be overdosing on heroin.”

“Pfft, you won’t have to worry about that! I’m addicted to my garden, and that’s the only stimulant I need in my life.” Finny bounced on the balls of his feet, a grin blooming on his face again now that they had cleared that up. “And perhaps Snake could be my new one.”

Suddenly, a thought came to him, and he gasped loudly. “Ciel, I could take him flowers! Like flowers I grew myself! We’re meeting up again this Friday to go to the movies, and I could bring him a bouquet of something from my flowerbeds!”

Ciel chuckled on the other end, but he sounded fond when he commented, “You’re such a hopeless romantic, Finny.”

“I _love_ love,” the blonde said shamelessly. “I can’t help it. Just the idea of cuddling on the couch with my sock feet wrapped around someone else’s and my face buried into the place where their neck meets their shoulder makes me just go giddy with joy.” He giggled a little bit but shook his head. “Sorry, I just can’t stop it. He _said yes_ , Ciel. Yes. To me!” Finny couldn’t help the little squeal he made. “I mean, I’m a dork, and he’s just the sweetest thing to walk the earth. And he agreed to go see that new movie with me! You know the one with the animals? He works with snakes, but I’m not sure what role snakes will play in the movie yet. But, we both saw the trailer for it, so-”

“Finnian,” Ciel interrupted, and the blonde deflated a little- but _only_ a little bit. “It sounds great, and I’m happy for you. Just remember what I said, though. Same story, different day- if he breaks your heart-”

“Sebastian breaks his kneecaps,” Finny finished, waving his hand to emphasise to the empty room that he understood, just like he would if he were talking to Ciel in person. “Yes, yes, I remember. I promise that if I need someone’s kneecaps broken, I’ll call you or Sebastian.”

“Be sure that you do,” his brother said firmly. However, the fondness crept back into his voice when he added, “And be sure that you have fun. It sounds like you really like him.” 

Finny thought back to the conversation he and Snake had- easy but riddled with similar hurts- and a smile made his way up his lips. He thought of the sweet little smiles the snake-tamer would offer up to him and that one rare laugh that had made Finny’s heart stop beating against his ribs. The warmth in his chest was back, filling him with a special, exuberant glow. He could almost still feel those cold fingers wrapped around his own sweaty ones, squeezing for support like Finny was his anchor against all the hurt in the world.

“I do,” he stated finally, unable to bring his voice above a whisper with all the emotion he was feeling. “I don’t love him yet, but I can see myself loving him- if that makes sense.”

Ciel made a small noise. “Yes, of course, and I’m sure he is absolutely smitten over you as well.”

____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o

“I’m really sorry that we couldn’t see the movie,” Snake said sadly as he opened his door. He glanced behind him to make sure Wilde wasn’t sleeping on the couch and then stepped out of the way for his visitor.

Finny walked in, still holding a small, wrapped bouquet of lilies in his hands. The blonde had dressed for a date- casual slacks, a plain but nice shirt, his hair carefully styled- and looked a bit out of place in Snake’s apartment, but he took it in stride. He smiled sweetly at his boyfriend- _That’s me; I’m his boyfriend_ , Snake had to remind himself for possibly the hundredth time that week- and set the flowers on the first surface he could find.

They’d planned to go see a movie, but the problem with opening weekend was that everyone and their brother wanted to go watch the movie as well. Since it was a kid’s movie, it meant that the seats sold out probably before Snake and Finny had decided to go on a date. In an attempt to still keep the date going, Finny had offered that perhaps they rent a movie and just watch it at home, and Snake had offered his own apartment up since he had a Netflix account. 

“No worries,” Finny assured him, making sure to take off his shoes when he saw the snake-tamer reach down to do the same. “Besides, at least your couch will be comfortable. I don’t know about you, but movie theatre seats can be pretty uncomfortable.” Turquoise eyes drifted over to the living room and widened just a tad bit. “Oh, hello.”

“Hello,” Wilde greeted, sliding along the carpet. Snake translated for him, and the python grinned. “So, you’re the guy Snake’s been talking about all week?”

Finny listened, just as easily as he had with Emily. “Yup,” the blonde said with a grin. “My name’s Finny. What’s yours?”

“This is Wilde,” Snake offered, and he stooped down to pick up the snake so they were all eye-level. “Wilde, we’re going to steal the couch tonight. The movie got cancelled, so we’re just going to watch Netflix. Do you guys want to join us?”

Wilde shook his head. “No. I know all about that gross Netflix and chill you humans are doing right now, and I’ll have no part in it. I just ask that you turn on _Say Yes to the Dress_ in your room and you don’t get too loud.”

Snake turned about fifteen different shades of red in the span of three seconds, based off of how hot his face got in that amount of time. Of course, Finny watched them curiously, waiting for Snake to translate for him, but there was no way. Emily butting into his love life was one thing, but now Wilde?

“Wilde says, ‘Turn on _Say Yes to the Dress_ , and I’ll be fine.’” He heard the snake hiss something that sounded like “coward.”

That earned him a little laugh from the blonde. “That’s such a great show. I didn’t realise that you would like something like that. So, are you like an expert on wedding dresses? Like the designs and stuff?”

The python sat up a bit straighter, preening with even that modicum amount of praise. “Well, I certainly try. I haven’t quite got the individual brands down perfectly yet, but I’ve only been watching it for half a year.” While Snake translated that part, he refused to translate when Wilde added, “So, when you two get married, I’ll be able to help you find your dress.”

“Hey, how about I turn that on for you? It comes on at seven, right?” Snake asked, desperate to get the pestering python away before he managed to turn the snake-tamer’s cheeks bright red. With a sheepish smile to his guest, he gestured to the couch. “You can sit down and relax if you want to.”

Finny nodded and took a seat in the middle, looking a bit nervous, but Snake couldn’t worry about him right now. He had a nosy snake that needed to get out of there before he made his owner’s face melt with all the heat rushing to it. However, as he set up the television in his room, he wondered if there was some merit in what the serpent had said.

Did Finny expect them to have sex? Was that why he was so nervous about coming to Snake’s house- he thought that it was going to be brought up? Well, if Snake had to completely honest, he really wasn’t that type of guy. Even if he’d never been on a date before, he couldn’t see himself having sex with anyone on the first date; he barely knew Finny.

Well, he knew quite a bit. He knew that the blonde had lost his parents at a young age and had been pushed into the foster system where he was disliked. After all, he was too old to appeal to younger couples and too dependent for older couples to want him. He had a younger “brother” named Ciel, whom he brought up quite a bit whenever he brought up his childhood. He was sweet and outgoing, loving to meet new people and get to know them as well.

He didn’t know much else besides that. So, when he came back to the living room to see Finny still sitting exactly where he had been on the couch but slightly more nervous, Snake offered his best smile and sat down at least a foot away from him. He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and started flipping through the lists and lists of movies available.

“Um, what did you want to watch?” he asked shyly, glancing over at the beautiful blonde and swallowing harshly when he saw that a bright pair of turquoise eyes were already fastened onto him. “I’m fine with most things, so it’s really up to you.”

“Why are you nervous?” Finny asked instead, offering a tiny smile. “You don’t have to impress me, you know.”

“Um, no,” Snake admitted, rubbing the back of his neck, and the smile faded slightly. “I was just worried about that euphemism people are using for… _you know_.” When Finny stared at him blankly, he clarified quickly, “Like, younger people are saying that ‘Netflix and chill’ means something more _intimate_ than just relaxing and watching Netflix, and you looked really nervous. So, I was nervous that you thought I wanted to have sex, and I’m sorry but I’m just not that type of person. It’s nothing against you, but-”

“Snake,” Finny interrupted, placing a warm finger on his boyfriend’s lips. “This is the first actual date we’re on. I don’t expect you to want to just jump into sex and stuff out of nowhere. It doesn’t fit your personality at all, and I didn’t come here worried about something like that.” He smiled sweetly and even leaned forwards to kiss the corner of Snake’s mouth. “I was worried earlier because I didn’t know if you or any of your friends had special places on the couch that I was intruding on. Also, it was a bit unnerving that Wilde would say something and all you would do was blush. I thought perhaps I was doing something to embarrass you.”

“No, no, of course not,” Snake said quickly, waving his hands as if to fight off that train of thought. "It was Wilde saying embarrassing things. Like, he was the one who reminded me about the Netflix thing and was talking about the two of us doing _stuff_." He wondered exactly what sort of noises Finny would have to make in order to be loud, and his imagination provided him with some very explicit and very blush-worthy noises. He buried his face in his hands, too ashamed to show the beautiful blonde beside him.

"Hey." Finny grabbed one of his arms and cuddled up against Snake's side, tucking his warm body against the snake-tamer's cold one. "Snake," he whispered sweetly, his breath hot and making a shiver run down his boyfriend's spine in the most delicious way. "You know, you don't have to worry about anything like that. You and I should spend time getting to know one another now, rather than jump into each other's pants. I know some people do that on the first date, but I'm just like you in terms of not being that sort of person. It's okay, honestly." He giggled and rubbed his soft cheek against Snake's shoulder, like a cat marking its territory. "You're adorable when you blush."

_Me? He thinks_ I'm _adorable? God, I'm probably beet red right now._ A small whine left Snake's lips, and he tried to cover his face even more so Finny couldn't see the blush that was making its way to his neck and ears. However, all he got was warm hands pulling his icy ones away and holding them tightly. He looked up into turquoise to see the cutest smile playing on Finny's lips. When he managed to get his boyfriend's attention, the blonde leaned forwards to do something absolutely strange.

He pressed those smiling lips to Snake's in a little peck, humming quietly. Snake stared at him in shock when he pulled away, heart racing madly in his chest. Finny giggled again, letting go of one of his boyfriend's hands so that Snake could cover his mouth with it in shock. Jade eyes widened at the little ball of sunshine that was still cuddling up to him. Finny placed his free hand on Snake's cheek, and his thumb smoothed over the rough scales and soft skin he found there, not even hesitating to touch such an ugly part of his face. In fact, since Snake's lips were unavailable, he leaned over to kiss the scales, seemingly obsessed now with kissing the blushing man's face as many times as possible.

However, when he noticed that Snake had yet to try to kiss him back, he slowed down, eyebrows pulling together in a small, insecure frown. He pulled away and completely let go of Snake, wringing his hands nervously. "I'm sorry. Was that too fast? I know you said you weren't into sex and stuff, but I didn't know you meant kissing. And your face was just so cute! I wasn't lying when I said you're attractive, but you're precious when you're all red like that." He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a little chuckle. "I got a little carried away when you looked up and we locked eyes. Um, yeah, but it's okay if I just freaked you out. I didn't mean to upset you." He looked down, turquoise losing a bit of its spark and his smiling face dimming incredibly.

_No!_ He hadn't meant to come off that he didn't want Finny to kiss him. In fact, as the shock was wearing off, a warm feeling ballooned in his chest as if it had just realised the affection that he had received, and he could feel the corners of his mouth curling upwards the more and more he thought about it. _Finny kissed me. He willingly put his lips against mine and kissed me and wasn't even disgusted with how I look._ He curled his hands around the fabric of his pants happily. _My first kiss._

Only, Finny looked ready to burst into tears, still convinced that he'd kissed someone who hadn't want him to. Well, Snake was going to put an end to those awful tears on such a normally sunny face. Mustering up all the courage he had, he cupped the blonde's face in his hands and tilted the wilted face up to look him in the eyes again. He let his smile grow a bit, trying to ease his boyfriend's worries. Finny sniffled a bit and went to wipe at his eyes, but Snake beat him to it.

Slowly, in case he freaked Finny out, he kissed the small trails to try and get rid of them. His lips trembled, afraid of messing it up. He'd seen it in movies, read about it in books, and he didn't want to look like a dork in front of Finny. For the first time in his life, someone was actually interested in him, even when he looked and acted like a freakshow attraction, and he would die if he lost this chance.

When his lips made it close to the blonde's parted lips, he covered Finny's mouth with his own, trying to imitate what he'd seen in movies. His effort was met with a soft little moan, but Finny saved him from his fumbling. He took control of the kiss, sliding onto Snake's lap to straddle his hips. Snake's eyes popped open in shock as he felt the blonde's tongue brush against the part of his lips, asking for permission rather than take it. He gladly allowed it, and Finny's warm hands curled around his shirt, tongue stroking Snake's eagerly.

Eventually they pulled away, and Finny rested his forehead on his with a content smile, his warm hands moving to stroke Snake's shoulders, his cheeks, and just about every part of him that he could reach without shifting his weight too much. Warm breath splashed over his face. He swore he could feel Finny's heart beating against him, racing just as fast as Snake's was, if not faster.

Quietly, Snake admitted, "You're a good kisser."

The blonde snorted and pulled away to rest his face on his boyfriend's shoulder, chuckling quietly. "You are, too. I was worried that I'd crossed the line earlier."

"No, you're fine, but... uh, it's just that-" He turned into a stuttering mess, and heat rose up his neck to his face. "Well, that was my first kiss, and I was just a little shocked," Snake murmured, half hoping that Finny wouldn't hear him because _god_ how embarrassing was that? It seemed that everyone he knew had already kissed people before they even got to middle school, and there he was having never been kissed. He tucked his face into the bit of neck that was exposed to him from the German's position.

Finny pulled away a bit, however, turquoise eyes wide in shock. He covered his open mouth with a hand, and a small whine left him. "Oh, god. I'm sorry. I hadn't realised. That wasn't even really a kiss. Shoot, I just botched up your first kiss." The blonde sat back on Snake's knees, still covering his mouth and looking so deflated. It was like a balloon that had lost all the air in it and was just a bit lifeless and dangling. He started to shake, eyes filling with tears. "Snake, I'm so sorry."

Startled at the reaction, Snake waved his hands frantically. "No, no, it was amazing. I was just really surprised. I mean, no one has ever liked me like that before, let alone wanted to kiss me, so I could care less how great the kiss was." He flushed even more. "Though, I wasn't lying when I said you're a good kisser, so you didn't, um, _botch_ it up."

Those words seemed to do the trick. Finny went from night to day, his entire being lighting up like Snake had flipped a switch or something. He beamed and wrapped his arms around Snake, squeezing almost too tightly, but the gesture meant so much to the snake-tamer that he couldn't bring himself to complain. He wrapped his arms around Finny and held him, unable to believe that such a sweet guy had actually decided to kiss and hold him like this.

____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o ____o..o

Finny whistled as he walked past the lion exhibit to the small, dark building that housed the reptiles and amphibians. In one hand he held a take-away bag with dinner in it, and in the other he held a flashlight. Even though he’d made this journey hundreds of times in the last five months, he still felt a lot better about having something to guide him towards where his boyfriend worked as the days got shorter and the zoo quickly plunged into darkness.

He and Snake had become nearly inseparable in little under half a year. They often had lunch or dinner together and took turns spending the night at each other’s houses. With little effort, Finny had managed to learn the names of all Snake’s friends, noticing a quick trend amongst them when he glanced through his boyfriend’s library one day. Wilde, Wordsworth, Bronte, and Keats were all names of authors that it seemed Snake loved to read- if the deteriorating spines had anything to say about it.

“That’s because I usually have books lying around,” Snake had explained when Finny inquired about it. “When I first rescued each of them, they would look around the room really fast and then decide on a name. Seeing as the only thing available with a name on it would be the books, all of them settled on a name based off an author.”

Snake doted after all of them, taking good care not to exclude them or make them feel abandoned just because he had a boyfriend around. On the other hand, Finny did his best to do the same, often having conversations with them through his boyfriend in an attempt to learn more about them and how they felt. In all honesty, he wasn’t the least bit freaked out about it; if Snake understood them well enough to be able to talk back and forth with them, then the blonde could see no fault in attempting to do the same.

He didn’t miss the irony that they were both paid interpreters in their own ways. While Finny’s job was more cut and dry- listen to what the German diplomat said, repeat it in English, listen to the reply, repeat it in German- Snake’s was based off his ability to understand what his snakes were saying and feeling while they were conducting a show.

Finny had stayed a couple of times for a show, loving to watch his boyfriend work. Even if it wasn’t anything fancy, Snake seemed to genuinely enjoy picking up each individual snake and talking about them to the patrons, even speaking for the reptiles every so often and asking them to do certain tricks for those watching. Oscar was brilliant at spelling out letters while Emily could hiss along to popular songs, even if it was just the chorus. They were crowd favourites, and they got a lot of visitors to the reptile room whenever a show was scheduled to happen.

However, that much exposure to people drained Snake terribly, and Finny often came by with dinner or something after closing so they could share dinner and then go back to the blonde’s house. They didn’t do anything dirty- a bath together and then cuddling on the couch- so that Snake could just be pampered and catch up on sleep. It was why Finny was there that day, swinging the paper bag that held their take-out from the little pub down the street and whistling a song as quietly as he could manage.

As usual, the lights were off in the snake exhibit, signalling that everyone was gone and that Snake was probably in the employee’s lounge near the front of the zoo. They were required to leave their stuff there when they walked in, so the snake-tamer had to make the trip all the way to the front and back. Finny had assured him many times that they could go get his stuff after they ate, but his boyfriend was always worried that his stuff would get locked in the lounge for the night if they took too long eating. It hadn’t happened yet, but Snake was a “better safe than sorry” type of person, always trying to be cautious with this and that to ensure things went to plan.

They balanced each other out pretty well. Finny was loud, impulsive, and almost annoyingly outgoing; Snake preferred to blend into the background, carefully planning each step so that he didn’t have any bad experiences. Snake preferred a slightly cooler home, complaining that Finny’s warm house was sweltering whenever the blonde invited him over, and they had started adjusting the thermostat so that it was lukewarm whenever the other visited. Finny would curl up with Snake to make up for the chill, and Snake would make sure to shed all his extra layers to deal with the warmth. Thus, they achieved a slight balance where both of them were comfortable.

Finny knocked on the reptile room’s door, even if he knew that it was only the snakes and such in there. He’d always rolled his eyes that the building was called the _Reptile Room_ when there were frogs and toads inside as well, but he doubted that those at the zoo cared about anything but their pretty alliterations when it came to naming exhibits. He pushed on the door and walked inside, shivering slightly at the temperature. The soft lights were still on throughout the different pens and containers that the animals were in, so Finny switched off his flashlight.

Emily looked up when she heard the door open, and he waved at her. Without Snake there, they both knew it was useless to try and start a conversation, so he just walked over and reached into her pen to stroke his fingers along her lithe body. He’d quickly grown to love and trust all the snakes, knowing that the communication barrier had been breached and they both knew that neither would hurt the other. Even if some of the snakes that Snake watched over were poisonous, not a single one would even think of biting him or Finny, assured over time that they were safe from any mishandling from the fair-haired humans.

Finny's heart plunged into his stomach as Emily suddenly pulled away and rose up, letting out a threatening hiss. He took a step back in shock, turquoise eyes wide as he tried to figure out what had made her so mad but drew a blank. She hissed again, positioning herself to launch out of the top of her pen, and Finny withdrew his hand quickly, the lid falling with a loud clatter. She wriggled her head out but seemed otherwise incapable of getting out.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly, feeling his heart start thumping painfully in his chest. He wished Snake was there to interpret so they could clear the air, but it seemed that his boyfriend was still a long ways away. “I’m sorry for whatever I did, but I promise-”

She hissed again, and he realised all too late that her black eyes weren’t on him but on something behind him.

Blinding pain came crashing against the side of his head, and the strength left his legs, bringing him crashing face-first to the floor. He heard Emily hiss again, accompanied by her friends and making Finny turn quickly to confront whoever had struck him across the head. He didn’t exercise as much as he once had, but he would be damned if he let someone attack him.

However, when he looked up, his attacker kicked him in the face, growling in fury. Stars exploded behind his eyelids, and a groan slipped from his lips. His head was spinning terribly, and he had a feeling he had a concussion of some degree. However, the kicking didn’t stop there, and he felt burning pain in his sides and chest from this jerk’s boots. Something told him that it wasn’t a coincidence that he was wearing steel-toed boots.

Finny tried to kick his attacker and was rewarded by a grunt of pain. However, the man grabbed his leg and pulled it to the side, making Finny scream as he felt his knee pop out of place. The animals around him voiced their protest, the snakes hissing and even the frogs croaking loudly. 

It was too dark to make out his attacker when the fog cleared from his eyes. He was barely holding onto his consciousness with the pain of his leg coupled with his head, and it didn’t help that he’d turned off his flashlight. His suspicion that it was a man was confirmed, and he was only aware that the freak was dressed in the white of a food vender.

Quickly, when the man seemed to be taking a short breather, Finny shuffled backwards towards the little room he and Snake ate in, nearly passing out at it pulled on his leg. However, judging by the assault he’d already taken, he doubted that he would leave this situation alive if he just laid there. He had to protect himself until Snake got there, or maybe even call his boyfriend so he could get security.

_Wait. Security… The red button!_ Finny’s eyes locked onto the shiny surface not two metres from where he was. Even if his attacker had decided that he would continue and was quickly advancing on him, the blonde furiously made him way to button, begging whatever god there was that he would be able to reach it in time.

Just as it seemed that the man would grab him, they were both distracted by a loud banging noise, and Finny looked up at the glass doors to see Snake. His already pale skin was completely leeched of colour as he realised what was happening, and Finny used the distraction to slam him his hand on the red button, calling whatever guards were still on parole towards the reptile room.

It seemed that his attacker had realised what he’d done and decided to finish the job because suddenly a steel-toed boot caught him in the face again, and Finny hit the ground hard. He felt something run down his face, hoped it was tears but knew that it couldn’t be. Before he had time to dwell on it, however, he got another kick, and then he was being pressed down into the floor, a heavy body on him holding him in place.

Snake kept slamming on the door, and Finny could barely make out that he was saying something over the haze and the fever pitch of the snakes’ hissing. He clumsily tried to hit back, but his arms were slapped away easily.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of glass shattering, and Finny looked up just in time to see that Emily had managed to knock her pen completely off the pedestal. Before he could even blink, the snake had crossed the floor and sprung.


End file.
